Colour yellow-ochre or greyish orange, 5AB4, 5B5, 6B4. Stipe thin, cylindrical, fibrous to delicately longitudinally striate, slightly compressed, off-white to cream-ochre, straight or strongly curved, also twisted around its axis. Stipe surface dotted by scattered or aggregated perithecia decurrent nearly its whole length. Base not or slightly thickened, typically carrying needles of Picea colonized by brown rhizomorphs. Spore deposits on stroma

surface delicate, white. After rehydration stromata somewhat larger than in dry condition, lighter, light yellow-ochre, stroma white, perithecia yellow. Reaction to 3% KOH indistinct. Entostroma white. Stroma anatomy: Ostioles (43–)53–70(–75) μm long, plane or projecting to 30(–47) μm, (30–)45–65(–85) μm wide at the apex (n = 30), cylindrical, periphysate, apex widened; apical cells in a palisade, cylindrical to clavate, to 5 μm wide. Perithecia (125–)180–250(–280) × (70–)100–175(–220) Nutlin 3a μm (n = 30), crowded, mostly laterally compressed, flask-shaped, ellipsoidal learn more or subglobose. Peridium (11–)15–19(–20) μm thick at the base, (9–)12–16(–18)

μm (n = 30) at the sides, hyaline to pale yellowish. Cortical layer (16–)20–30(–36) μm thick (n = 30), a subhyaline to pale yellow t. angularis of isodiametric to oblong cells (4–)6–14(–18) × (4–)5–9(–12) μm in face view and (2.5–)4–10(–16) × (2–)3–6(–8) μm (n = 30) in vertical section. Subcortical tissue absent or a loose hyaline t. intricata of thin-walled hyphae (2–)3–5(–6) μm (n = 35) wide. Subperithecial tissue a loose hyaline t. intricata Ergoloid of thin-walled hyphae (2–)3–5(–7) μm (n = 30) wide, often collapsed, with variable orientation, therefore in part appearing as irregular t. epidermoidea upon strong magnification. Asci (62–)68–84(–87) × 4.0–4.5(–5.0) μm, stipe (6–)10–25(–30) μm (n = 20) long. Ascospores hyaline, finely verruculose,

cells dimorphic; distal cell (2.7–)3.0–3.5(–4.0) × (2.5–)2.7–3.2(–3.5) μm, l/w (0.9–)1.0–1.2(–1.5) (n = 70), (sub)globose to nearly wedge-shaped; proximal cell (3.0–)3.5–4.5(–5.5) × (2.0–)2.3–2.7(–3.0) μm, l/w (1.2–)1.4–2.0(–2.4) (n = 70) oblong to wedge-shaped; sometimes inverted inside the asci. Cultures and anamorph (growth rate determined in a single experiment): optimal growth at 25°C on PDA and SNA, on CMD at 30°C; no growth at 35°C. On CMD 3 mm at 15°C, 6–7 mm at 25°C, 8–9 mm at 30°C after 72 h; mycelium covering the plate after ca 3 weeks at 25°C. Colony hyaline, thin, of 2 zones, a dense central zone with irregularly lobed margin, and a broad marginal zone distinctly separated from and growing faster than the central zone. Surface becoming slightly farinose by white conidiation; mycelium dense, hyphae narrow. Aerial hyphae none to inconspicuous. Autolytic LY333531 mouse excretions, coilings, pigment, distinct odour, and chlamydospores absent.